He is now being extradited to the Butler County Jail by Zapotitlan Palmas
A Mexican citizen and one of America’s Most Wanted fugitives for 20 years, was captured in Mexico while working as a police officer. According to the New York Post, Antonio ”El Diablo” Riano was turned over to deputy US Marshals in Mexico City and charged with first-degree murder stemming from a fatal 2004 shooting outside an Ohio bar.
On December 19, 2004, a fatal altercation occurred at the Round House Bar in Hamilton, Ohio, resulting in the tragic death of 25-year-old Benjamin Becerra. A few weeks earlier, Mr. Becerra was involved in a fight at the same bar and was asked to leave.
On the day of the shooting, Mr. Becerra returned to the bar, where Riano was assisting the bartender. A brief argument ensued between them, during which Riano fatally shot Mr. Becerra in the head at about 2:20 p.m.
Riano fled the scene in his van, but was later identified through witness statements and surveillance footage that showed him purchasing ammunition at a Walmart just 45 minutes before the shooting. A grand jury indicted him on February 16, 2005, for first-degree murder, but he failed to appear at his scheduled arraignment. Instead, he fled to Mexico to escape persecution.
He was placed on the Butler County Sheriff’s Office “Most Wanted” list and was also profiled in a 2005 episode of America’s Most Wanted.
On Thursday, Riano was apprehended in Mexico, where he worked as a police officer, and turned over to deputy U.S. Marshals in Mexico City.
“More than two decades after the shooting, the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office worked with the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, who worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico to secure Riano’s arrest and extradition . When Riano was arrested in Mexico, he turned out to be working as a police officer in the local police force The U.S. Marshals Service said.
He is now being extradited to the Butler County Jail by Zapotitlan Palmas, according to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.